I SENT a correction of Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s statement (column KN Jan 27) in his flawed analysis that the Republicans control both houses of the U.S. Congress but it was not published in the Kaieteur News.  Kissoon’s claim is not factual as there has been a divided Congress since January 2011. Also, Kissoon’s explanation of the concept of “tacking” is not correct and he demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of the concept. He unwisely calls on the opposition to block legislation proposed by the PPP administration.
The Democrats were in control of the House and Senate from 2006 thru 2010.  The Republicans captured the House in the November 2010 elections and are likely to hold it in elections in November 2012.  The Republicans made gains in the Senate in the elections of November 2010, but the Democrats still control the Senate, albeit narrowly.
Tacking is when influential Members of Congress (MOC) attach or tack onto a popular bill funding for pet projects, and the tacking is carried out for a variety of reasons.
Restricting the use of funds for certain projects, in the abortion example used by Kissoon, is not considered tacking.  Freddie’s example is just a normal condition for the acceptance and use of funds and similar conditions are placed on all funding from Congress.
Generally, tacking is carried out to win over votes for passage of a bill or when MOC see an opportunity to bring “pork’ or earmarks into their districts to boost their political reputation to win re-election.
Contrary to what Kissoon suggests, tacking is not common in the annual budget presentation or in the debate for its passage.  Tacking or pork is more common (prevalent) during requests for supplementary budgets or a controversial bill (like Obamacare) and the President goes along because he wants funding for his requests or wants his bill passed and the tacking (unnecessary extra projects) becomes a trade off.
All Presidents regardless of party affiliation and whether their party is in the majority or minority face the nagging problem of “tacking” more commonly known as earmarks or “pork” and is tied with pork barrel politics.  Everyone wants a piece of the pie and the pork is rotated among MOC during the  debate sessions in order to win passage of controversial bills.  Pork has nothing to do with a President from a minority or majority party, as everyone wants to bring home the bacon for constituents.President Obama had difficulties passing his health care legislation even when he had a (cloture veto proof) majority in the Senate and an overwhelming majority in the House.  He had to cut deals with unsupportive members of his Democratic Party to win votes for Obamacare.  Contrary to what Kissoon pens, the Republicans cannot overturn Obamacare even though a majority of Americans are opposed to it according to opinion polls. The Republicans will need two thirds majorities in each House to override the President and they are far from those numbers in both houses.  Also, passage of a bill can be blocked in the Senate through a concept called a filibuster unless 60 votes support cloture – another concept Freddie does not seem to understand. Blocking the PPP’s programmes will not do the country any good.
As I suggested repeatedly, Kissoon should not dabble in academic matters he does not master. His writings need proper vetting and editing for facts. The editor or publisher of KN needs to forward Kissoon’s columns to experts in the field to check for inaccuracies. Kissoon’s writing does not do him any good, especially with regard to reasons cited by the UG Council for the termination of his contract – lack of academic productivity, poor teaching, misapplication of concepts, etc.